Viking Ocean Cruises Expands Cruise Ship Fleet

Viking Ocean Cruises has contracted to build four more ocean cruise ships according to an announcement from Fincantieri. With these new ships, Viking’s ocean cruise fleet will reach 10 cruise ships making the cruise line the largest small ship cruise line.

In April 2017, Viking and Fincantieri signed a memorandum of agreement for the construction of two cruise ships, the seventh and eight for Viking, along with an option for two additional ships.

The first of the series, “Viking Star”, has been built at the shipyard in Marghera and delivered in March 2015. The second, the third and the fourth, “Viking Sea”, “Viking Sky” and “Viking Sun” took the sea from the shipyard in Ancona in 2016 and in 2017, where a few weeks ago “Viking Orion”, the fifth unit, has been launched with delivery scheduled in 2018. The last three units, including the one whose first building block was laid today, will be ready respectively in 2019, 2021 and 2022.

Viking was founded in 1997 with the purchase of four ships in Russia. In 2000, the company purchased Europe’s KD River Cruises in order to grow its fleet, to leverage 40 years of river cruising experience and to acquire rights to prime docking locations in key European cities.

Viking expanded into the American market in 2000, establishing US headquarters in Los Angeles, California. Through rapid expansion, the company has grown to be The World’s Leading River Cruise Line, with double-digit growth in recent years. And with the launch of its ocean fleet in 2015, the company has also become the leader in small ship ocean cruising.

Fincantieri – Cantieri Navali Italiani S.p.A. is an Italian shipbuilding company based in Trieste, Italy. Already the largest shipbuilder in Europe, after the acquisition of Vard in 2013 and STX France in 2017, Fincantieri group doubled in size to become the fourth largest in the world. Fincantieri has built 79 cruise ships from 1990 to today (56 from 2002), while other 32 are currently being designed or built in the Group’s yards.

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